linus Torvalds released the first and second version candidates (RC) Linux 6.0 several days ago after a two-week merger window. This new kernel version should stabilize in the next two months, but Torvalds clarified that the change from 5.19 to 6.0 does not mean that fundamental changes have been made to the software.
Most of the updates seem to be GPU improvements, network and sound. The Linux creator noted the absence of some Rust integrations in this release, but expects them to appear in another release candidate or a 6.x release.
“Despite the significant number change, there is nothing fundamentally different about this release. I have long eschewed the notion that prime numbers are meaningful, and the only reason for a "hierarchical" numbering system is to make numbers easier to remember and distinguish. That's why when the smaller number gets to around 20, I prefer to increment the larger number and go back to a smaller number. However, 'nothing fundamentally different in this release' obviously doesn't mean there aren't many changes,” Torvalds wrote in announcing Linux 6.0-rc1.
He noted that there were over 800 merged commits and over 13 merged commits. not merged. To get started, in these release candidates of Linux 6.0-rc, we can find what is offered significant performance improvements, with a big push in high-end Intel Xeon and AMD EPYC servers, as well as AMD Threadripper, In addition to this, it adds new drivers for Intel Raptor Lake, new RISC-V extensions, support for setting the system hostname via the “hostname=” kernel parameter, new AMD Raphael audio driver, and support for Gaudi2 from Intel Habana Labs.
In addition to that also come with a stable version of the HEVC/H.265 interface, preliminary work on Intel Meteor Lake support including audio, Intel IPI virtualization for KVM, Intel SGX2 support, runtime verification for security critical systems, Send v2 protocol for Btrfs, major scheduler improvements, further preparations for AMD Zen 4, continuous AMD RDNA3 graphics enablement and mSignificant improvements to the IO_uring system call interface.
Linux 6.0 accounts for the largest number of file changes and new lines added in a while. Torvalds said that more than a million lines of code have been added this cycle, in part due to auto-generated header files around the new AMDGPU and support for Intel Habana Labs Gaudi2.
Despite the volume of code added to the core, some features that were long overdue were not merged, in particular the patches from the "Rust for Linux" project. “Actually, I was hoping we would have some of the early Rust framework and a multi-generation LRU virtual machine, but this time it didn't happen,” said Torvalds.
The "Rust for Linux" project is led by Miguel Ojeda with financial support from Google and the Internet Security Research Group. Torvalds said that these fixes may appear in the next Linux 6.0 or other 6.x RCs.
Rust was added as the second language for Linux kernel development after the C language. However, Torvalds clarified that this was not about rewriting all Linux code with the Rust language, but about using Rust to write some of the new kernel modules. This choice came as the debate on alternatives capable of replacing the C language for systems development intensifies.
High hopes have been pinned on Rust because of the security and memory management benefits it offers. However, some believe that this type of initiative is doomed to failure.
"Rust for Linux" is the project that aims to introduce the Rust language into the kernel. Rust has a key property that makes it very interesting to consider as a second language in the core. According to the project's developers, and Torvalds himself, the "Rust for Linux" project is at an advanced stage, but still slow to integrate into the kernel.